Plumas County color spotter Mike Nellor scores a First Report with these shots of barns in the Thompson Valley.
Located southeast of Quincy, the Thompson Valley is ranch country, with lots of cattle grazing and big black oaks edging the pastures. Many backroads lead to stands of black oak and bigleaf maple. Mike reports this area as 60% peaked, and it should be full peak by Halloween.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Thompson Valley, Plumas County
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2015-10-19 20:57:012015-10-26 08:21:11First Report: Black Oaks of the Thompson Valley
Color spotter Philip Reedy traveled north of Dunsmuir on I-5 to find color along the Upper Sacramento River.
Indian Rhubarb has sprinkled a confetti of its red, orange, yellow and green fan-shaped leaves along the river’s edge, while alder, cottonwood and aspen brighten the forest with gold and yellow.
Sims Flat (10/17/15) Jill Dinsmore
Sims Flat is coming into its own, though short of peaking.
Pacific Dogwood, Trinity County (10/17/15) Jeri Rangel
Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade region, Pacific dogwood have turned hot pink in Trinity County. Now, that’s hot.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Upper Sacramento River – Get down to the river above Dunsmuir for peaking Indian Rhubarb at river’s edge and trees going golden.
Patchy (10-50%) – Sims Flat – Upper Sacramento River – Lots of color now, more to come.
Patchy (10-50%) – Trinity County – Pacific Dogwood have turned Paris-Hilton hot.
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Mike Nellor shares this video taken off LaPorte Road near Quincy. Many of the best fall color trails are forest service dirt and gravel roads that lead from main roads in the Shasta Cascade.
Seen in the video are rosy dogwood and golden bigleaf maple.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2015-10-16 18:33:592015-10-16 18:35:33This Week in Plumas County by Mike Nellor
Boulder Creek Rd., Coffee Creek (10/8/15) Ruth Hartman
Take CA-3 north of CA-299 and you pass Trinity Lake, the Trinity Alps on your way to Coffee Creek.
This western side of the vast Shasta Cascade region is wild, beautiful and so lightly traveled that few photographers or leaf peepers have explored it.
The drive to Coffee Creek is along narrow roads that are flanked with bigleaf maple that dance and sway, littering the road with a carpet of spent leaves that swirl up in spirals as you pass.
Color spotter Ruth Hartman of the Coffee Creek Ranch says the color is peaking right now. Her dude ranch is better known for its stable of horses and miles of trails that lead into 367 acres of ranch property and the Trinity Wilderness area, though it could become known as a fall color retreat for the lovely color to be found in its forests.
Boulder Creek Rd., Coffee Creek (10/8/15) Ruth Hartman
The predominant deciduous tree is the bigleaf maple with its golden leaves. Black oak provide orange color and wild cucumber speckle the forest with chartreuse.
One of the rarest and most beautiful trees on the continent, though not deciduous, is Brewer’s weeping spruce, picea breweriana, with its dark green boughs hanging in abstract, Seussian forms.
For anyone who loves showy trees, Brewer’s weeping spruce are well worth the trip north to the Trinity Alps to see them.
Alder, Lassen Volcanic National Park (10/14/15) Gabriel Leete
Kings Creek, Lassen Volcanic National Park (10/14/15) Gabriel Leete
Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade region:
Alder are at full peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Color spotter Gabriel Leete captured this beast of an Alder near Kings Creek.
Dogwood and Maple, Round Valley (10/13/15) Jeff Titcomb
Dogwood, Round Valley (10/13/15) Jeff Titcomb
Dogwood, Round Valley (10/13/15) Jeff Titcomb
Plumas County color spotter Karen Moritz reports, “dogwoods are really showing up nicely on Bucks Lake Road out of Quincy.
While, Indian Valley color spotter Jeff Titcomb reports the dogwoods, big leaf maple and oak trees are looking great on the road to Round Valley Lake Reservoir.
Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Coffee Creek – Bigleaf maple leaves flutter down through the forest along the country roads leading to Coffee Creek Ranch. Bring your fly rod and riding boots. Nearby areas to explore include Trinity Center, Trinity Lake, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and the historic gold rush town of Weaverville.
Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Lassen Volcanic National Park – Alder are at full peak throughout the park.
NearPeak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Plumas County – Indian Rhubarb have been peaking along the Feather River. Dogwood and bigleaf maple are peaking in the Round Valley. Other areas of Plumas County are filling up with color.
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Lassen Volcanic National Park guide Shanda Ochs reports that the air around Manzanita Lake at the park’s northwest entrance was filled with willow leaves swirling in the wind this past Sunday, “So, I don’t expect to see these on the branch much longer.”
Willow, Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (10/13/15) Shanda Ochs
Willow, Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (10/10/15) Shanda Ochs
Cottonwood were also being blown away. This is in line with what we’ve seen reported in areas of the Northern Sierra and lower Cascades where dry leaves aren’t holding color for long. Sandra writes, “Many just seem to be dying and skipping color change altogether.”
Yet to turn color are the alders. Though, reflections of orange-red Lemmon’s willow and golden-orange willows reflected in the often-still waters of Manzanita Lake provide a beautiful picture.
Near Peak GO NOW (50-75%) – Lassen Volcanic National Park – Willows and cottonwood are peaking. Alders are patchy.
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Dogwood Drupe, Coffee Creek Rd, N. Trinity Lake (10/5/15) Jeri Rangel
These are dogwood days in the Shasta Cascade as this photo of Dogwood drupes, taken by Jeri Rangel, attests.
The dogwood are now laden with their brightly colored drupes, which are the flower of the dogwood tree.
In springtime, the white blossoms, commonly thought to be the tree’s flower, are actually the flower’s leaves, called bracts. They surround the actual yellow/green colored flower.
In autumn, the drupe turns black, orange and vibrant red as seen in Jeri’s photo. In this picture, the dogwood tree’s leaves have not yet turned color, though they will transition from green to shades of pink, orange and rose.
Resting Buck, Plumas County (10/4/15) Jeff Titcomb
Elms, Antelope Lake (10/4/15) Jeff Titcomb
Aspen, Antelope Lake (10/4/15)
As is being reported from other corners of California, a fourth year of drought is having its effect on Plumas County’s trees. Bigleaf maple, cottonwood, willow and black oak should be moving from patchy to near peak right now, though little of that is happening. In fact, the maples and cottonwood have shed most of their leaves, with very few left on the trees to turn. Those that are, have disappointing color.
There is hope for the willows and black oak, however, as they appear healthy and are rated as Patchy.
Though the report indicates parts of this prime color area are Past Peak, it’s still too early to declare that. Considering that color spotters in Quincy are reporting that 25% of the trees are turning, as usual, we’ll wait a week or two more.
Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Antelope Lake, Plumas County – Aspen and elms surrounding Antelope Lake are at full peak. Color spotter Jeff Titcomb found a buck resting in the grass near Greenville. He said it little noticed him, while enjoying a break out in the open, during the middle of hunting season. Brave buck.
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Color spotters Jeff Titcomb and Mike Nellor send these paradisiacal pictures taken in Plumas County.
Jeff walked beside the Feather River to capture the above picture, stating that the colors are “getting there.” Mike Nellor found the following idyllic scene of Indian Rhubarb draping the edges of Spanish Creek near Oakland Camp on the outskirts of Quincy in the Shasta Cascade.
Color spotters Jeff Titcomb and Ashley Hollgarth send these snaps from the Shasta Cascade (California’s northeast corner, a lightly populated part of the state that is as big as the state of Ohio).
Jeff notes that yellow quaking aspen and rosy western dogwood are nearing peak in Plumas County, though golden bigleaf maple and orange black oak have not yet developed.
Look to the streams in Plumas County and along the upper reaches of the Feather River to see the big fan-shaped leaves of Indian Rhubarb turning flame orange and gold.
Ashley continues to report on the progress of exotic sugar maples in the town of Mt. Shasta.
As seen in this photo of a sugar maple that she’s photographed near the U.S. Forest Service office in Mt. Shasta, the tree has changed from greenish-brown to ruby in the past week.
Several eastern sugar maples were planted along city streets throughout the town of Mt. Shasta, and, with snow-flecked Mt. Shasta seen in the distance, they provide a picture-postcard image of autumn in the Cascades.
Cory Poole’s photograph of this past weekend’s eclipse of the moon over Mt. Shasta can only be described as “Bloody Good.”
Poole is a high school teacher who combines an eye for astronomy and landscapes in his photography. Like many photographers who contribute their work to California Fall Color, he sells prints of his work. If you see any photographs on this site (including this bloody good image) of which you would like to buy a professionally printed reproduction, email editor(at)californiafallcolor.com and we’ll put you in touch with the photographer.
Dogwood, Plumas County (9/25/15) Jeff Titcomb
Indian Rhubarb, Feather River (9/25/15) Mike Nellor
Other photographers providing work from the Shasta Cascade this week are Mike Nellor and Jeff Titcomb.
Mike captures the first coloration of Indian Rhubarb along a stream, while Jeff creates a still life of changing dogwood leaves.
What do US Forest Service rangers do in autumn? They surround themselves with fall color.
Mt. Shasta Ranger Station (9/22/15) Ashlyn Hollgarth
That’s what color spotter Ashlyn Hollgarth reports from the Mt Shasta ranger station where an exotic, eastern sugar maple is coloring up beside the station.
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